Blake Krikorian, the founder of Slingbox, has died

Blake Krikorian. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Blake Krikorian, the founder of home-video streaming service Slingbox, died on Wednesday from a heart attack while surfing in San Francisco, according to a report from Recode.

Krikorian, who was 48, was a serial tech entrepreneur and very respected figure in the tech and media industries.

A one-time Microsoft executive and director at Amazon, Krikorian founded Sling Media in 2004. The company's Slingbox product allowed consumers to stream online video from their TVs to their PCs or mobile gadgets, a technology known as "placeshifting" that was considered ahead of its time.

In addition to his grasp of the tech and media business, Krikorian was known for being an incredibly friendly and gregarious guy, with a joie de vivre that was hard to miss. A regular fixture at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Krikorian seemed to relish holding court with reporters and prognosticating about the industry, in contrast to some of his tightlipped peers who dutifully deferred to the conference recomendation of shunning the press.

As news of Krikorian's death spread on Thursday, a who's who of tech-industry leaders paid their respects on Twitter: